Star Wars Helmets
Sr Member
Every now and then we get a really great opportunity to see something special at StarWarsHelmets.com and this is one such example. Just over a year ago we were contacted by the owner of an original AT-AT helmet and following discussions, I was able to recently visit and put the following review together of a long-lost piece of Star Wars history. Enjoy!
For The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas needed some new Imperial characters to drive the AT-AT’s and John Mollo, the costume designer opted for an amended "white" version of the ANH-used TIE Fighter helmet. I use the word "white" in quotes since the first thing to say about this helmet (and therefore presumably the armour) is that in reality they weren’t white at all - but were in fact painted glossy grey. When I last met up with John Mollo some while back we discussed the AT-AT helmets but not in great detail hence its something I’d like to pick up with him again.
To be clear we're not talking an off-white, milky-white or white with a hint of grey - these helmets were GREY and photos from the early eighties back this up - this isn't aging paint. As you can see the helmet is in great condition. Turning our attention to the helmet is clear that despite it missing some of its greeblies, its still in really great condition. The grey paint is in a pretty incredible state for paintwork over 30 years old. Unlike the HDPE material most Stormtrooper helmets were made from (which is notorious in its ability to reject paint), the ABS used on these has positively welcomed the new grey spray paint - giving a finish that doesn’t look far different now from what was seen on screen back in 1980.
If you take a look at The Empire Strikes Back its amazing how little of this iconic helmet you actually see on-screen. Only one helmet is seen from the front and a possible four from the rear. Its worth pointing out at this stage that this helmet is NOT the one seen front-on - the detailing around the eyes and position of various tells (including the angle of the red cogs) makes this clear in my mind. Its therefore my view that the AT-AT seen front-on is most likely the one owned by Jim Stephenson which was stolen mid-90’s, never to be seen again.
The cog decals are a higher quality than those used on ANH, this time I red they’re printed on better quality backing and have a glossy lustre. Interestingly they have the same asymmetry as the ANH Cogs. The tube stripes look like black masking tape, cut to the required shape on the helmet. You can still just make out the remnant pencil marks where the cut lines have been drawn.
Interestingly the front metal tusks did not connect directly into the front tube slots – instead there was a separate thick white circular plastic “thing” - possibly a found plumbing part - that pushed the tusks forward. I have a couple of sets of metal tusks for my helmets and although very accurate to the eye – they are just a little too small and are only a single-piece design - whereas the originals have an outer sleeve and separate inner "nib" sections.
The rear pill-box looked just the same as the original TIE's - although in this instance it had been glued shut and despite much prompting did not want to open. However it had the same spring loaded mechanism present on the TIE box and as I’ve always said is probably a record player needle box or possibly a box for storing plectrums. Having spent a considerable amount of time with this helmet, and investigating the suject its my considered opinion that its the same one as seen on the Kenner figure packs and in the Visual Dictionary as was photographed on set for the promo pics sometime in 1979
Just to show off how grey these were, here's a comparison against an all-white WIP replica At-At.
More pics and info on my site
Get yer grey spray cans out AT-AT fans!
Cheers
Jez
For The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas needed some new Imperial characters to drive the AT-AT’s and John Mollo, the costume designer opted for an amended "white" version of the ANH-used TIE Fighter helmet. I use the word "white" in quotes since the first thing to say about this helmet (and therefore presumably the armour) is that in reality they weren’t white at all - but were in fact painted glossy grey. When I last met up with John Mollo some while back we discussed the AT-AT helmets but not in great detail hence its something I’d like to pick up with him again.
To be clear we're not talking an off-white, milky-white or white with a hint of grey - these helmets were GREY and photos from the early eighties back this up - this isn't aging paint. As you can see the helmet is in great condition. Turning our attention to the helmet is clear that despite it missing some of its greeblies, its still in really great condition. The grey paint is in a pretty incredible state for paintwork over 30 years old. Unlike the HDPE material most Stormtrooper helmets were made from (which is notorious in its ability to reject paint), the ABS used on these has positively welcomed the new grey spray paint - giving a finish that doesn’t look far different now from what was seen on screen back in 1980.
If you take a look at The Empire Strikes Back its amazing how little of this iconic helmet you actually see on-screen. Only one helmet is seen from the front and a possible four from the rear. Its worth pointing out at this stage that this helmet is NOT the one seen front-on - the detailing around the eyes and position of various tells (including the angle of the red cogs) makes this clear in my mind. Its therefore my view that the AT-AT seen front-on is most likely the one owned by Jim Stephenson which was stolen mid-90’s, never to be seen again.
The cog decals are a higher quality than those used on ANH, this time I red they’re printed on better quality backing and have a glossy lustre. Interestingly they have the same asymmetry as the ANH Cogs. The tube stripes look like black masking tape, cut to the required shape on the helmet. You can still just make out the remnant pencil marks where the cut lines have been drawn.
Interestingly the front metal tusks did not connect directly into the front tube slots – instead there was a separate thick white circular plastic “thing” - possibly a found plumbing part - that pushed the tusks forward. I have a couple of sets of metal tusks for my helmets and although very accurate to the eye – they are just a little too small and are only a single-piece design - whereas the originals have an outer sleeve and separate inner "nib" sections.
The rear pill-box looked just the same as the original TIE's - although in this instance it had been glued shut and despite much prompting did not want to open. However it had the same spring loaded mechanism present on the TIE box and as I’ve always said is probably a record player needle box or possibly a box for storing plectrums. Having spent a considerable amount of time with this helmet, and investigating the suject its my considered opinion that its the same one as seen on the Kenner figure packs and in the Visual Dictionary as was photographed on set for the promo pics sometime in 1979
Just to show off how grey these were, here's a comparison against an all-white WIP replica At-At.
More pics and info on my site
Get yer grey spray cans out AT-AT fans!
Cheers
Jez
